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SHOP TALK: Clear View Filter – It’s Clearly The Choice

Written by: JT Photo & Videos by: JT


Someone once said that necessity is the mother of invention. While undergoing our last upgrade to Big Red, we certainly found the truth in this phrase. While I didn’t invent the idea for a remote filter, or invent this incredible part, I can assure you that it was absolutely necessary.

A simple, mundane service like changing the oil on our 572 Merlin big block is by no means an easy task. Our massive, custom 2.25” primaries make their way down right under the stock oil filter placement. The space between the header tubes and the oil filter housing is so tight that I can’t use a full-size big block filter. Even the smaller AC Delco part # 454 filter barely fits in this spot. Despite using this smaller filter, it is still equivalent to a beginner solving a Rubik’s Cube trying to get the filter past the tubes and into the spot straight enough to thread into the housing. Now imagine the horror and mess (btw…a mess for me is more than horror) that happens while trying to remove it! The collector is just inches from where the primary tubes get drenched with oil. This mess is nearly impossible to thoroughly clean and usually results in burning off the unseen oil residue even after a thorough shower with Brakeclean. This process stains my beautiful Cerakote finish and ruins my custom headers one oil change at a time. Dropping the oil from our massive Moroso oil pan was not as easy as it should be because of our mid-rise lift. The cylinder and locking arm are directly under the drain plug. Before I made a custom table that sits over and around the hydraulic cylinder, it was an act of contortion, strength, and focus while trying to balance my oil drain pan with 8 quarts in it. My custom table fixed that problem. So by now you get the gist that ANYTHING to make this process less painful was a welcome addition to Big Red.


At the sage advice of my dear friend and Gearhead Partner Shawn, I researched many remote oil filters. There are some very nice products out there that solve this problem. All this research led me to the hard and cold fact that I simply have no room inside of my engine bay yet alone for an industrial looking remote oil filter. If you are a frequent reader of my articles, you all know by now that I have issues when it comes to aesthetics, detail, and cleanliness. Every remote filter housing I looked at did not meet the standards and overall motif of my engine bay. So, life went on and I played with my Rubik’s Cube filter every time I changed my oil and like the cube, each time I played with it, I found a trick or two to make some sort of progress.


Our recent trip to the PRI Show in December (click to read article) proved itself to be a worthy, must-attend yearly event. Shawn and I are not just gearheads, we are specialists in many areas. Fabrication, machining, welding, mechanical, electrical, paint and body, between the two of us we can do it all. Shawn’s engineering background and degree gives us a huge advantage. Any custom part that we need he can design and send the file to someone who can produce the part for us. So, for us, looking through a catalog or someone’s web-site may be fun, but there is nothing like getting your own hands on a part that you have been thinking about purchasing. Your brain immediately figures out how and what is needed to implement whatever you are holding. While walking down one of the many aisles in the numerous exhibit halls, we blindly stumbled upon the Clear View Filtration booth like a shining star from heaven was guiding us.


As we approached, we were immediately greeted by an extremely friendly and knowledgeable woman who not only told us all about their product, but also gave us a demonstration on how it works right in their booth. At the conclusion of the demonstration, she asked us if we were able to wait a few minutes until her husband, Mike, “the inventor” was free to speak with us, and we were happy that we decided to wait. Mike is a wealth of knowledge that shares his passion freely with everyone who enters his display. Perhaps even more impressive than their patented filter design, is the American Dream success story that he and his wife Jessica have built. Clear View Filtration is a family-owned and operated company that makes its home here in the U.S. in the beautiful state of Washington. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing their story of success all the while his wife was greeting everyone that entered their booth with the same respect and information that she shared with us.


The Clear View Filtration housing is not just a remote oil filter. They allow the user to visually see oil pumping through the filter, which helps to determine the condition of the oil. When oil is not being pumped through the filter it can be quickly emptied using compressed air through a built in Schrader valve (a small bicycle pump will also work). A small shot of air applied to this port will empty the internal filter in seconds without draining or leaking any oil. With the oil drained back into the oil pan, the filter element is exposed so you can visually inspect the filter element and any filtered particles that may be present. Even when filtering nontransparent fluids like dirty oil, it allows the user to visually inspect particles and contaminants that were not filtered out of the engine to determine if they are from normal use, or from bearings and other components excessively wearing inside the engine. Like Mike says, “It’s like having an insurance policy on your engine.”


The internal screen is available at the 60-, 115-, and 380-micron level depending on your application. Clear View Filtration also makes a housing that supports a screw-on filter in addition to the internal screen, making this a true dual-stage filtration system. After consulting with Mike and listening to his expert advice, we opted to go with the 4” screw-on, see-through filter assembly part #400-115. Since the disposable screw-on filter catches the microscopic particles, the remote filter uses a high flow 115-micron coarse element when running 50 weight or lighter oil. We opted to use the KN 2002 screw-on filter along with our Brad Penn 20w50 oil. If you are looking for a larger filter than the HP2002, KN also makes the HP6002 which is a full two-quart filter that is 8.28” tall.


Now for those of you who paid attention in the beginning of this article, I mentioned that I simply have no room inside my engine bay for anything extra, yet alone an industrial looking remote oil filter. The Clear View Filtration remote filter is not only small, it’s an absolutely beautiful piece of art that works perfectly with the motif of my engine bay. The unit that we decided to use measures at 5” wide x 6” long x 3” thick and weighs only 3.4 lbs. Mike designed a choice of mounting brackets that bolt directly to the housing for easy installation. We chose the non-swiveling bracket. Clear View Filtration also offers numerous block adapters to fit your specific engine. Mike knew in a second which one of his adapters we needed, thus making this process all the more easy.

Click Arrows On Right & Left to View Slideshow Pictures

Incorporating the Clear View Filter is a rather straightforward procedure. You’ll need to find the location of where you will mount the remote housing, ensuring you have enough room if you choose the optional screw-on filtered housing. You’ll also want to make sure that you can visually see the internal screen with ease and access the Schrader valve to drain the filter for inspection. Mounting the block adapter is as simple as removing the old oil filter and any hardware that your block uses to thread the filter on, and simply bolting the block adapter into the stock location. Once again due to zero clearance with our application this simple process took way more time and patience to install. For example, I had to modify my engines mid-plate to accommodate getting an AN wrench into the area to tighten the -12 oil lines to the adapter. Speaking of oil lines, this is the only area of difficulty in this installation process if you are not skilled at making your own lines. We absolutely love making our own lines as it is therapy for the soul. For our application, we opted to use -12 braided stainless hose with 90-degree high flow AN fittings. The system comes with the necessary -12 O-ring boss fittings to mount to the block adapter and the remote housing. All you need to purchase is the hose and specific hose ends for your application.